Wadhwani Foundation - Program Manager - Product & Program Development

Programme Manager Product & Program Development

About the job:

Location: Remote (India)

Role Summary:

It is responsible for converting programme components that currently exist as ideas, one-off interventions, or informal practice into structured, repeatable, scalable products with defined scope, playbooks, and delivery formats that any Venture Partner or Sprint Operator across hubs can pick up and run consistently.

Key Responsibilities:

- Create playbooks for each sprint type so delivery quality doesn't depend on which Sprint Operator runs it

- Design and productize the SMB Community and peer network model (Peer Circles, Hub Chapters) into a defined, repeatable format

- Design the Alumni Engagement pathway structure for repeat sprints and a paid conversion model for ventures exiting the core programme

- Build out Sector Focus Sprints as standalone products, examples:

1. Defence Manufacturing DPP compliance, OEM connect

2. Food & Agro export certification, retail entry

3. EV & Clean Tech OEM partnerships, subsidy navigation

- Take other ad hoc or one-off interventions run across hubs and convert them into standardized, reusable products (clear scope, inputs, outputs, effort)

- Bring an analytical lens to product design sizing demand, structuring frameworks, validating assumptions before building

- Build and maintain a network of external service providers relevant to sector sprints (compliance consultants, certification bodies, OEM connectors, etc.)

- Apply consulting-style structured problem solving to genuinely ambiguous, undefined areas of the programme

Requirements:

- Background in management consulting, or a Chartered Accountant with strong exposure to business problem-solving

- Strong grounding in management consulting problem-solving frameworks (structuring, hypothesis-driven analysis, MECE-style breakdowns) hands-on sector experience is not required, ability to apply frameworks to a new sector is what matters

- Demonstrated experience building frameworks, playbooks, or productized service offerings not just executing against someone else's brief

- Strong analytical and structuring ability; comfortable working from ambiguity to a defined product

- Existing or buildable network of relevant service providers/experts, able to work independently in a remote, build-from-scratch capacity